Stacey vs Dawn
by mcpon14
Summary: In Stacey vs. The BSC, Dawn catches Stacey lying to Mary Anne about why she skipped out on her job with the Pikes. This story begins after Stacey comes home from that confrontation at Pizza Express. Stacey's the narrator. Oneshot. Alternate Universe.


**Author's Note: This story takes place in an alternate universe. The events preceding the story closely mirrors some of the events found in the beginning of the novel, Stacey vs. The BSC. Stacey skips out on a sitting job with the Pikes. She gets Mary Anne to substitute for her while telling her that the reason for needing her to do so was because of an emergency while the real reason was so she can go hang out and eat pizza with her non-BSC friends. Dawn goes to Pizza Express on a hunch and sneaks around wearing a hoodie to hide her face. When Stacey spots her, Dawn confronts her about not having a legitimate emergency and therefore lying to Mary Anne. Dawn, then, walks out. In Stacey vs. The BSC, Stacey feels bad about lying to Mary Anne while in this version of her, she doesn't. In this alternate universe, the people are using current (2014) technology. Stacey McGill is the narrator.**

I was still steamed when I came into the house after dining and having fun at Pizza Express with Robert and them. At least it was fun until Dawn had shown up. I had to leave my friends early because I was too upset. But before I slid out of the restaurant booth, I told Robert that I was going to message him online tonight. I went straight home, took out a piece of paper, made up some Algebra equations and started solving them. It relieved some of my anger. (Everybody has their own ways of alleviating stress. This was mine.) I already finished my math homework, so I didn't have those to take out my frustrations on. My eyes flared up when I remembered the smugness that Dawn exuded when she was walking out after embarrassing me in front of all of my "mature" friends. My "mature" circle would not have done something so, um, childish. I gripped the shaft of my pencil harder. I wished that I was good at sketching like Claudia is so I could've drew a portrait of Dawn and stabbed it after I was finished. Claudia. She is still one of the mature ones, right? In seventh grade, when she and I were interested in boys and fashion, Kristy and Mary Anne were still playing with dolls. I guess, I should have paid more attention to that contrast. I should have put more stock in it as a sign of things to come in terms of our divergent paths regarding our maturity levels.

Hoping that Robert Brewster was online, I logged onto my Facebook. He wasn't on . . . but Dawn Read Schafer sure was. I saw the green little dot by her name indicating that she was free to chat. I eyed it with a bit of enmity. Feeling menacing, I harkened back to the time when I saw this Batman cartoon episode on television where the featured villain was Two-Face. I snatched my purse, took out my coins wallet, slid out a quarter pinching it between a thumb and an index finger, and flicked it in the air. I opened one side of my lips to reveal teeth as it spun crisply in the air before landing on my palm.

Heads it is. Was that what I had called? It doesn't matter. I was barreling ahead anyhow. My mind was made up.

I clicked her name and sent her a private message. I remembered the saying that if you are going to engage in revenge, you better dig two graves but I didn't care. I was knowingly initiating a heated exchange and I was relishing the prospect.

Me: That was real mature of you to spy on me back there.

Dawn responded in a flash.

Dawn: Didn't we already have this conversation?

Me: Why didn't you just come up to me instead of sneaking around? Or better yet, be mature about it and ask me when I had gotten home.

Dawn: I wasn't supposed to get caught, you dummy.

Me: You wouldn't have if you weren't so bad at it. You're really pathetic you know that. Going around spying on people who thought you were their friend.

Dawn: You know what? You should be on here apologizing to me instead of calling me names.

I didn't answer so she continued.

Dawn: How good of a friend were you to Mary Anne? She covered for you like a TRUE friend and you lied to her.

Ooh, she was twisting up the facts, so I felt more compelled than before to respond.

Me: I didn't lie to her. It wasn't exactly an emergency, but it was a completely legitimate reason to need a substitute.

Dawn: "Wasn't exactly an emergency" is the understatement of the year.

I didn't know what to say to that but I was still seeing red. I logged off of my Facebook account and onto my Twitter.

StaceyluvsRobert (my Twitter username) to TiggerLover (Mary Anne's Twitter username): Mary Anne, before Dawn poisons you against me, know that I did not lie to you. Wasn't an emergency. Legitimate reason.

Dawn responded pretty quickly to that tweet. I guess that she had followed me onto here.

ImAwesome (Dawn's Twitter username) to StaceyluvsRobert: Hanging out and eating pizza at Pizza Express. Is that an emergency?

StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: I didn't do anything wrong.

ImAwesome to StaceyluvsRobert: You lied to Mary Anne. Is that not wrong.

StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: I did not lie to Mary Anne. You're twisting things up. You're trying to stir things up.

StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: You're trying to cause a rift.

ImAwesome to StaceyluvsRobert: So you REALLY don't see what you did wrong?

StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: I didn't do anything wrong! I don't know what's your problem.

StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: You're trying to cause a rift where everybody was happy before.

ImAwesome to StaceyluvsRobert: There's no point in talking to you if you don't see what you did wrong.

I stared at the screen for awhile with tight lips even though it seemed like she had ended the back-and-forth because I didn't like how the argument was left.

Then of all people, a person with a Twitter handle that I didn't recognize chimed in.

to StaceyluvsRobert to ImAwesome: I don't mean to intrude but you two need to see it from each others perspective.

Her Twitter name was MorbiddaDestiny. I clicked on her profile. The background picture in her profile was of a house that seemed eerily familiar. I'm sure I've glanced it many times. In her short biography, she even lists her address! It was 1212 McLleland Road! Kristy's is 1210 McLleland Road! Mrs. Porter! She is the Brewer's neighbor that Karen, Kristy's energetic stepsister, is always yammering and making unsubstantiated claims about. According to her, she is a witch and has hexing powers. I just felt like a spider had just crawled down my back. I gulped.

But then I realized that I could use some words that might be able to cool me down, so I decided to give Mrs. Porter, if it was really her, a try. Maybe she'll impart some wise advice.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny (Mrs. Porter's Twitter username): Thanks for responding but what do you mean?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: What I mean is it would help if it was possible, right?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Definitely! I could totally see how it would.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: Well, what if it could?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: What do you mean?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: If it could be done, would you give your consent?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: To what?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: To be able to see things from Dawn's perspective?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Um . . . yeah.

I just made that reply in a casual way. I didn't really take what "Mrs. Porter" was saying seriously. I thought that it would be okay to humor her. She was trying to be motherly towards me. That's what I thought anyway. I appreciated the gesture.

Then Dawn popped back into the conversation.

ImAwesome to StaceyluvsRobert and MorbiddaDestiny: Is there something that I'm supposed to see here?

MorbiddaDestiny to ImAwesome and StaceyluvsRobert: Yes, Dawn. Read the chat that Stacey and I had after you left the discussion.

ImAwesome to MorbiddaDestiny and StaceyluvsRobert: I read it.

MorbiddaDestiny to ImAwesome and StaceyluvsRobert: Dawn, do you consent?

ImAwesome to MorbiddaDestiny and StaceyluvsRobert: Yes.

I guess that she wanted to play along too.

MorbiddaDestiny to ImAwesome and StaceyluvsRobert: Don't be alarmed tomorrow.

MorbiddaDestiny to ImAwesome and MorbiddaDestiny: What do you mean?

I waited for a while for her answer but none came, so feeling tired, I logged off.

The next morning I woke up with the texture of my lips and the inside of my mouth feeling really slimy. I used my tongue to investigate all of the surfaces of the inside of my mouth and the sliminess felt thick to the touch. I felt like I had gobs of the substance layered on every surface.

I then looked around and it seemed like everything was green but each object was delineated from each other by being in different shades of green. The shades of green varied widely on a spectrum. I felt like I was wearing night-vision goggles.

When I got up to step out of my bed, I expected to put one foot down on the ground first then the other. As I went to do so, I fell to the side onto the ground on my face and belly. Before I realized it, I had propped myself up on what I assumed were arms and they were planted on the ground by what I assumed were palms but I didn't feel any individual fingers or thumbs. I felt like I was in the up-position when doing a "girl" push-up where you're doing a push-up while being on your knees instead of being on your toes. So I had arms and palms, I guess.

I then felt that I could easily just roll up on the bottom of my body and be upright. I felt like I had the muscles to do it, so I did.

I then brought my hands up to my face and they were the ends of tentacles. I waved them back and forth in front of my eyes and they felt squid-like. I felt alarmed but my normal biological reaction of rapid heart-pumping did not occur, at least I couldn't discern it. I placed my tentacle over where my heart should be and concentrated on distinguishing a pumping feeling. I couldn't tell so assumed that I didn't have a heart. Finding my current circumstance and surroundings vexing, I desperately wanted to find a mirror so I could see what I actually looked like. I looked at my "bed" to see if it was actually my bed with a Blade (a musical band that I like) blanket and pillow case. I guess that I was hoping against hope as it turned out that it was nothing more than an elevated rectangular platform, completely bare. It looked like a hard, stony surface but it didn't feel that way when I woke up. Maybe I didn't notice.

I already noticed the door hole and window hole in the room but now was the time to give them some attention. There were no covers for either.

I waddled to the window and peered out of it and saw roads that seemed to be in straight lines. I imagined that they were similar or even the same as the ones found in my, I guess, real world or previous world. They seemed to be part of a large grid of them. I saw cubed structures with domes for roofs lining behind each side of these roads. They each had a door hole. Some had window holes. Some were connected together, ranging in numbers from two to five from what I saw, like bread rolls before the individual units were separated. Sometimes, rows of these houses were stacked on top another. The highest number of tiers that I saw was three. Interspersed throughout this landscape of domed houses were these cane-shaped poles that looked like they were rooted to the ground.

I scanned the sky - seeing that there was a horizon - for a sun but couldn't find one. It made me wonder what provided the light. Maybe the sun was somewhere else. Then I saw some kind of a solitary organism gallop down the pavement of a road. It looked to have three orbs on its face but no discernable eyeballs. The spheres were the only features on its face. It seemed to have a head and a neck that connected it to the larger mass of its body. It seemed to bound down the road with a ton of energy. I guess that this creature was this world's version of a dog. It stopped by one of those poles, butted it with its head and a glowing rectangular bit floated straight down to the critter. When it touched the top of its head, the bit blinked twice then disappeared into it.

Thump! I was startled out of being engrossly absorbed in observing this dog-like creature. I turned in the direction of where the noise came from and saw a large blob-like creature with just a mouth and tentacles for arms standing there. We had the same type of limbs. Was this what I looked like?

(I never figured out what that thump sound was. Maybe the bulbous thing had knocked?)

"Pwapugatbub," it said.

I felt frozen in place by indecision as to what to do.

Then before I was even aware of what I was doing, I dashed to my raised platform and flopped onto it, face or front-of-my-body first.

I landed with a splat. I didn't even know how I jumped.

I didn't even know how to close my eyes or visual perceptor. I just laid there with them open. The surface that my face was mashed on top of was foreign to me. I felt like how I would feel if I was in a super-crowded subway and I was scrunched up against a stranger. Out of politeness, I wanted to apologize to it for pressing into its private space from above.

I eventually drifted off to sleep, I'm guessing.

The next day, I awoke in my own bed and in my own room. I immediately bolted to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I shook my head a little before drying off. My mind felt very clear, including my thinking.

I turned on my computer and immediately logged on to Twitter. My fingers clacked away on the keyboard with a rapidity that I've never known before.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Where did you send me?

I was going to leave that page and log on to my Facebook to see if Robert had responded to my private message, but before I could "Mrs. Porter" typed back.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: So you saw it from Dawn's perspective?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Tell me EXACTLY what you mean.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: So you would understand why she thought that what you did was so wrong.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: I understand that. But where did you send me?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: Into Dawn's reality.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: What do you mean?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: Everybody lives in his or her own reality.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: I sent you into Dawn's reality and she into yours. She became you. You became her. That's all.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: So you could see things from her perspective and she from yours. To help you resolve your problem.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: How's that Dawn's reality? She wasn't even human. Everything was green.

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: I guess that's the reality she lives in.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: So to her, we're all aliens? And to me, we're all humans?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: To her, we're all speaking an alien language?

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: And to me we're all speaking English?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: I guess yes to all of those. I've never been to her reality. Sorry.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Okay. So how does that help me see things from her perspective?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: How else are you going to see things from her perspective?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: It was the only way I could provide.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: Okay. But tell me this: how did you send us into each other's reality?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: Trade secret.

StaceyluvsRobert to MorbiddaDestiny: How did you get us to switch places? How did you get us to become each other?

MorbiddaDestiny to StaceyluvsRobert: Trade secret.


End file.
